Current economic state
Data from the 2010 Income Statement continue to highlight the improvements launched in recent years. A process of rationalization and streamlining is underway in Trenitalia’s cargo division, with goals of economic recovery in the sector and breaking even in 2013.
Over the past few years, this process has led to a 75% reduction in the losses with respect to 2006, even in a negative macroeconomic scenario, marked by the 2009 global crisis and a slower, more restrained growth than expected for Italy and Europe’s economies.
Though in a macroeconomic situation still marked by uncertainties and weaknesses, Trenitalia Cargo will continue on its path of corporate reorganization to reduce operating costs and the unit cost of transport, improve the efficiency of its services, and prepare itself to recognize the signs of the economy’s reawakening and to compete on the market with the newcomers.
2011-2015 Business Plan
The 2011-2015 business plan projects a strong relaunch of the Group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane’s cargo division, focusing specifically on:
- full trains
- international transport
- connections to and from ports.
Full trains
As per the guidelines of the new business plan, a network of full trains servicing large industrial clients has been put into operation. These connections were provided to key international players in the automotive, chemical, steel and iron, agri-food, and retail industries.
Less-than-trainload traffic, managed by 60-70-year-old rail methods, no longer satisfies the qualitative needs of clients or the cost rationalization imposed on companies by the market. For this reason, a new, more efficient, and less costly organization has been fine-tuned, which concentrates traffic on several platforms and creates full, multi-client trains. What’s more, Trenitalia Cargo has also spread into market segments that, until today, were the exclusive prerogative of trucking, such as transport for large retail groups.
International transport
A stronger international presence is surely one of the pillars of Trenitalia Cargo’s strategy. Recent operations carried out by Trenitalia demonstrate its goal of developing business along the main connection axes to Continental Europe.
With regards to the north-south axis, Trenitalia has acquired from the founders all holdings of TX Logistik, a German freight rail transport company operating in the German and European markets. TX Logistik offers cross-border rail services
through its subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Italy, and proposes innovative, successful logistics services. TX Logistik’s market is continuously expanding, today stretching all the way from Scandinavia to Italy and connecting the main European industrial areas.
With regards to the western axis, Trenitalia Cargo has recently launched a freight transport service with Italian engine drivers on the French Amberieu-Modane track, roughly 200 km long. This new service was created in partnership with
Europorte France, which handles end terminalisation in France. The service provides 5 pairs of trains running each week, for a total volume of 450 thousand tonnes a year. Also in France, Trenitalia Cargo avails itself of a business partnership with its subsidiary Trenitalia Logistics France.
With regards to the eastern axis, Trenitalia avails itself of partnerships with two of its trading companies, Pol-Rail and Rom-Rail. It is deemed an axis of considerable strategic interest, as it shows the highest growth indexes in terms of volumes transported.
Connections to and from ports
Another key goal of Trenitalia Cargo is to expand rail services in ports. Ports, after all, have always represented a natural point of traffic concentration, and Trenitalia could help Italy’s port system make the leap in quality necessary for becoming more attractive with respect to the large ports of northern Europe. This development will be made possible only after having concentrated demand into a select number of ports, made qualitative and quantitative improvements to the infrastructure within port premises, created effective connections to the main national and international traffic thoroughfares, and increased the efficiency of shunting services.
This sea-rail integration is essential for the future development of Italy’s ports, which for years have been penalized by an inefficient, expensive shunting system and a structurally congested entrance/exit road system located too close to urban centres.
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